5 times Peter acted like the Avengers and the one time he didn't
by LoverOfThings
Summary: Peter is so similar to the members of the Avengers, but also vastly different. One-shot.


**1.**

It wasn't like Peter to be late, Tony knew this. He knew something must have been wrong. Even when he was unexpectedly running late, which usually occured if while getting ready Peter heard of criminal activity close to the apartment. But even then Tony usually received a call or text. The situation was even more worrisome due to Peter's Aunt May being away for the weekend. Knowing the kid, he could have been out patrolling and gotten hurt in some way, and with no one in the apartment to save him from his embarrassment of asking for help, he could've died from blood loss. Perhaps someone finally figured out who Peter was, and decided to take him to show Tony some sort of lesson. Maybe his body could no longer handle the radioactivity in his own blood, and he had a sudden heart attack. Tony figured none of these scenarios were true, but he knew _anything_ was possible.

The thoughts quickly came one after another as he more or less rushed through the apartment door. Tony really had to have a talk with May and Peter about locking their door. Both of them have had many brushes with muggers and robbers, so one would think they would at least lock their front door to be cautious.

When Tony couldn't see Peter in the kitchen and living room, his heart automatically skipped a beat. Carefully looking down the hall, Tony could at least see the bathroom door closed, the light, and the sound of water flowing from the sink. He sighed in relief as his ears focused on the soothing sound of the running water. Rhodes may have been right. Tony should probably think about extra anxiety practices now that Peter was around. A few minutes late to picking the kid up, and he was bursting into an apartment with death on his mind.

"You know Pete, getting stood up on a date isn't really an attractive trait." Tony called to the bathroom door, still smiling at his near freak out.

A tired yelp and ruffling noise from the bedroom closest to him made Tony jump to the side in a quick panic. He began to glance back and forth between the bedroom and bathroom door. A voice came from behind the bedroom door, a voice Tony knew a little _too_ well, because it seemed near impossible to turn it off. "S-sorry Mr. Stark. I'll uh... I'll be right down!"

Tony could almost hear the kid's thoughts begging him to go away, as he himself put the pieces together. Tony mumbled a quick response as he turned to leave. As he started to step aside, his eyes quickly glanced back as he heard the bathroom door quietly, but fully, open. From walking away, he only caught the slightest look at the girl who had opened the door. Long, nearly white hair, wearing black leggings and a matching black top.

It did not take a genius, although being one never hurt things, to put two and two together. As if the kid didn't already remind Tony of himself, now Peter just _had_ to throw in one night stands onto the list.

**2.**

_'You can do this. Just a standard appearance from Captain America. Like old times.'_

Steve had been repeating the same piece of advise from Sam half the day, it seems. Over and over, class after class. Hundreds of young teenagers staring, largely without blinking he may add, at him. Admiration, a disbelief as if they thought he wouldn't show up for the scheduled tour, and completely starstruck. The starstruck never failed to make Steve smile. He thought it was funny. He was just a kid from Brooklyn, not that far from the school he was in. Steve knew that's not all he was now, not anymore, not to everyone. He _was_ Captain America. No longer _just_ a boy from Brooklyn. Still, the mere thought made the tours much more bareable.

He still repeated the advise as the next class began to make their way into the gymnasium. One of the last classes today. To know which classes were first to meet with the hero, the principal decided to go with the relevancy to Steve himself, which the man had groaned embarrassingly at. The kids who had Gym first period was obviously first, next were the health sciences classes, followed by history, english, language classes, the other classes in between, and finally the science and math classes had began to come through. Steve had been watching and waiting for Peter for every class. Absent mindedly, of course. Steve didn't know the Spider's school schedule. In fact, he didn't know Peter attended this high school until last night. Steve figured it would be nice to see a familiar face during the long day. Not to mention Steve knew the kid had been receiving some teasing and harrasment from other teenagers not thinking Peter's 'Stark Internship' was real. Hypothetically, if Steve saw Peter and went over to talk, it would help both of them a little. Also, Peter was a good kid. Steve liked him.

_'And thinking of...' _Steve thought as he saw the familiar brown haired boy. Of course the kid would be at the back of the line up, quietly talking to his dark skinned friend. The two teenagers shared a small laugh as Steve began to make his way over to them, holding an apologetic hand up to the teacher beside him.

"Peter!" Steve called to the kid before the teens had a chance to walk to their seats in the bleachers. Steve took notice of several quizzical looks directed at him.

Peter blinked in surprise at him. "Hi, Captain Rogers." An awkward moment of silence. "How's the presentations been going?"

Steve chuckled softly. He crossed his arms as he looked up at a particular student staring aggressively at Peter from a top the bleachers. "It's going pretty good. The students have been very respectful, been great." The two heroes nodded together. "I didn't know you went here."

The kid took a quick glimpse behind him at a trio of girls giggling and blushing at Steve. He turned his attention back to the man. "You mean... school?" Steve snorted at the comment. "I mean- no uh- T-tony didn't tell you?"

Steve shook his head. "Tony doesn't tell us everything, you know."

Peter swallowed hard, and nervously. He looked down at his shoes. He figured he would hear about this later. Of course Tony wouldn't tell Steve where he went to school. Did Steve even know he went to school? Peter had only interacted with the other Avengers at the tower. There was an unspoken rule that the group almost never talked about their personal lives with each other. There was always different topics to discuss, that it was an after thought.

Suddenly, Peter tensed. He stared dangerously into Steve's eyes as the world slowed. His senses starting to warn him. He could feel the vibrations of the world, the buzzing of words from his peers, the smell of gun powder from a far away gunman. A sniper. With seconds to react, Peter swiftly grabbed Steve's arm, pulling his body inches to the side. Peter's own arm sprang up, lifting in front of the heads of his peers. An instant burning sizzled in his wrist.

For the briefest of seconds, Steve took in the moment before him. The tensity of Peter's eyes before he pulled gim away, the speed and willing of taking the bullet. The small whimper of pain afterwards. The next second, he bounded forward as Peter began to kneel down, holding his arm in his other hand. Students screamed and raced past them, two teachers and the principal yelled evacuation orders.

"Are you good?!" Steve demanded.

The boy looked up at him, and suddenly Steve could see how small, and young, and _fragile_ the kid really was. The wetness of tears teased the corners of his eyes. The exploded flesh of his wrist seemed so large compared to his small forearm.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Are we gonna go get that guy before he hurts someone else?"

This time, it was Steve's turn to blink in surprise. This teenager... this kid... just took a bullet for him, and he was thinking about the possibility of the assaliant hurting someone else? Steve's eyes smiled. It reminded him of someone else he knew.

**3.**

"I'm _beyond_ pissed off, Bruce."

The man gawked at the boy, not expecting a first name drop. Normally, Peter was very polite to his elders. Referring to those older as 'Mr. Mrs. Sir, or Ma'am. Bruce respected the young teen for the politeness he showed. He had come across so many his age that didn't care to show such respect. He had never heard Peter growl with such an anger before.

Granted, Beuce was currently showing a greener shade than usual as well. The pair were hiding -sitting? pacing?- in a safe and secure room in the Avengers facility in upstate New York. One side of the simple four wall room was nearly just a window, able to see the battle quickly ending outside. About an hour earlier, the availabile team of Tony, Steve, Sam, Bruce, and Peter who was visiting for the week, were calmly sitting in the living room talking and laughing between boxes of pizza. Quickly, the evening started to become much more harrowing. It began with a strange intruder alarm, which Tony had brushed off as an employee being careless as they entered. Then, a small sound of an explosion near the gate got the team moving. Bruce and Peter were grounded to the safe room immediately. They couldn't risk Bruce transforming to the Hulk, and Tony couldn't risk Peter getting hurt. However, that only left Tony, Steve, and Sam to fight. The rest of the Avengers were anywhere across the globe. It showed that they were short staffed. Judging from the carnage outside, and the lack of a certain tin can flying across the sky, the team was losing the battle.

Peter growled as he took one last glance through the window. Without another moment of hesitation, he stomped towards the door. Bruce grabbed the boy's arm and stopped him.

"Peter, please stay here. Tony will kill me if I let you leave."

Peter's eyes stayed forward at the door. His pupils appeared to belong to another person. They no longer held a soft youthful hope. Those eyes only held anger. Bruce knew a set of those eyes very well.

Bruce sighed, desperately trying to calm the green engrossing his chest. "Please... I don't know what you are planning to do... but I _don't want to see it." _

Peter ripped his arm out of Bruce's grasp. His stare had not moved from his goal, the escape from the room the door offered. He walked forward, carefully adjusting the web-shooters on his wrists.

"Then don't watch."

**4.**

Peter dodged the dagger approaching his head, dropping completely to the ground. His back was on the floor for less than a second, his hand quickly shooting a web across the room to a twenty pound weight. His feet swung, circling his body to gain momentum as he lifted them into the air. His right leg kicked the dagger out of the hand of his opponent, while his left leg landed in the middle of the other's chest. Peter's wrist twitched as he pulled the attached weight across the room, directed towards the opponent. The other immediately pulled to retreat, but was held by the stickiness of Peter's foot.

"Okay, okay you win Web-head!" Clint huffed in defeat.

Peter grinned as he flicked his wrist once more, pulling the weight currently flying through the air down to the ground with a 'thump'. He removed his foot from Clint's chest, letting the other escape. His hands fell to his own chest, as his feet returned flatly on the ground.

Across the room, by the weights, Tony, Rhodey, and Natasha giggled. "I told you!" Tony bellowed. "One of a kind, a real spitfire! You buy drinks later, Katniss!"

Clint scoffed as the kid joined in on the giggling. "You know, Tones, I've never seen you spar the kid yet."

"Oop." Rhodey chocked out as the room went quiet. Clint and Natasha raised their eyebrows at the scientist. Peter smiled, a mischievous spark in his face.

"Come on, Mr. Stark! I promise to go easy on you!" Peter teased playfully.

Tony tilted his head in mock amusement at the group now giggling uncontrollably. In recent months, Peter had become the best spar partner. The kid's senses and enhanced agility and strength made him quite an opponent to near everyone on the team. His speed was also unmatched. Peter could also take blows from anyone. A punching bag who hit back, Tony had lovingly referred to him as in the earliest spars. It was good for everyone, in reality. The team had fresh meat to practice against, instead of the usual pairs they had fallen into based off of skill set, and Peter could now actually practice throwing a punch or kick, instead of just webbing up assailants.

Tony pretended to think of the suggestion. Then, he lifted his hand and waved it off. "You know, we don't really have the same fighting styles and..." His voice trailed off as the room erupted in pleas and laughs. Tony knew the kid would take this opportunity to his advantage. Peter _says_ he would go easy or pull his punches... but Tony knew from many experiences that what Peter _said_ and what Peter _did_ was two incredibly different things. He would rather be teased for not taking the challenege. Rather than taking it, and be teased for getting his ass kicked by a teenager. Even though that teenager is an enhanced, mutated, Spider-boy.

Peter raised his eyebrow at his mentor as he sat up, crossing his legs. "What if we made it more... interesting?"

"Interesting you say?" Tony also lifted his brow.

"What if you used the Iron-man suit? I have always wanted to see if-"

"Nuh-huh. Too dangerous. You want to spar, not to be wrecked."

"Pfft! No way! I could beat your best suit no problem!"

Rhodey laughed at the pair. "Oh! Kid's getting cocky now!"

That was really all the motivation the group needed to grow through the challenge. Tony had called his suit, and after he had been cacooned in the metal, he made his way into the ring, taking Clint's place. Peter had stood up, a teasing smirk plastered on his face as he positioned into a fighting stance. Peter began to think of his strategy. Of course, it was all for fun, but he also felt as if he had to prove something to his mentor. His eight year old self had been dreaming of this moment, after all. The Iron-man suit was more of a distance fighter, getting up close was definitely a weak point. Tony was also not going to be able to fly much in the fight. He could, but surveying the gymnasium sized training room made Peter very confident that flying to get away would not be viable option. Peter also knew from previous experience that while fighting the suit up close, Tony was very slow, if you were hit it left a nasty bruise.

Natasha smiled at the two boys, getting ready to call the match. _'Silly boys...__'_ She thought. "Okay! Three... Two... One...and go!"

"I'll give you the first hit squirt!" Tony called.

Peter chuckled as he pointed his wrists, each hand shooting a web to the ceiling. He pulled, and his webs lifted him straight up into the air. He twirled, a touch of flare he knew Tony would appreciate, and angled his body towards Iron-man, his feet first and forward. Peter knew his speed was his greatest strength in this match. Tony didn't move, waiting for the kid to land his hit, as promised. Peter felt his feet collide with the metal chest, and reacted immediately. His left leg recoiled, and sprung and hit again as his right also recoiled. One, two, three, four... Peter kept up the in air running motion on the suit's chest four times. Tony's arms raised to catch the boy's rapidly striking legs, just as Peter front flipped his body, his arms grabbing on to the shoulders the suit. Peter straightened his body up right. Now, Peter was holding his body in the air. Tony's arms were still up from attempting to grab the kid's legs, so he changed his angle, planning to _gently_ blast the boy from off of his shoulders. It was a light blast, so Tony didn't need to charge more than a second. He let his A.I. from the suit aim and-

Peter's right arm let go in anticipation. His left took the rest of the weight, switching his body from clutching the suit and being vertical in the air to only one hand grasping a shoulder and being horizontal to the floor. Tony's blast breezed by the two of them. As Tony felt the change, he lifted his other hand to blast Peter's hand off of his lone shoulder. The teen sensed the soon to be danger, and more quick than the eye could follow, shot a web to cover the palm of the hand aimed at him. At the same time, he readjusted his centre of gravity, and swung his body back to the side he came from, across the front of Tony. Both of his feet landed on the suit's diaphram, sticking fiercely to the metal. Peter used the momentum from the movements, and his own stretching and recoiling the moment his feet attached, to send the two bodies spinning.

Tony may not be as fast as Peter while in his suit, nor out of it to be honest, but if he was anything, it was quick minded. The man knew Peter would try to fight up close. The kid's training with Natasha had been paying off it seemed. Tony had anticipated, and also had judged how cramped it would be for him to use his regularly set blasters under his feet for flying. Luckily, he toned the setting down.

As the two began to spin, Tony fired his foot blasters. The force from the repulars cancelled out the momentum of the spin, and the two started to come to a stop, hovering above the ground. Peter yelped in surprise when he heard the noise, and in response fired a web to the ceiling to get himself away from his mentor who was soon about to have the upper hand. As they stopped, Peter didn't waste a second to pull on his web, sending him into the air and detaching himself from the metal suit. He shot another strand of web at an angle, pulling his body into almost a sitting position in the air, his legs poised and outstretched.

Tony's raised arm followed the boy's movement. When he got a good shot, he opened his palm and retracted as a beam of yellow-orange light fired. Peter's head tingled as he let go of both webs, rolling onto the floor below Tony. The beam continued and-

"Shit!"

-blasted through the wall that was behind Peter a second before.

The only noise inside of the training room was the crumbling from the fairly large hole in the wall. Wood, metal, and plaster slowly rained down by the impact. A dust dispersed around the two rooms involved. Tony dropped to the floor, his helmet completely retracted inside of his suit. Peter had turned to see the blast, sitting on the floor. Natasha, Clint, and Rhodey gawked at the evidence of the blunder.

"Whoops." Tony, always first to apologise.

Peter bent his neck to stare at his mentor, eyes wide. "You were gonna hit me with that?!"

"Well, I thought the settings were dropped so I didn't think it'd be that strong, but yes?" Tony shrugged.

Rhodey sighed, dropping his head into his hand. "Foul... Peter wins."

**5.**

_Five minutes..._

Peter whimpered as the chains scraped his skin painfully once again. Every inch of his flesh that was exposed to the world cried in the pain. His blood was both a wet, pleasant relief to his wounds as it trickled down his body, and also a stinging pain. The man clutched his chin painfully, forcing Peter to look him in the eyes. The act caused the chains friction to torment his body, nearly sending him into a tortured spasm.

"I thought you were going to be a good boy for me." The man said flatly. Peter's enhanced sense of smell stiffened at the appalling waft he enhaled from the man's breath.

Peter gagged, blood exploding from his cracked lips. "I swear... I've never met the other Avengers. I just intern for Mr. Stark-"

Peter was cut off as the now common place agony began. His body shook, and simultaneously began to tear from the tight chains caressing him. His tongue shrivelled from the dry heat the pain brought. His toes and fingers grasped and ungrasped at nothing. A warm feeling from his crotch that he thought he would never feel again after his childhood of bed wetting.

_Five minutes... he said five minutes..._

"Bullshit!" The man screamed at him. "These things only work on mutated monsters or enhanced! It's no coincidence Stark took such a shine to an ordinary intern!"

Peter gasped for air as the torture stopped momentarily. Each time his chest rose for the coolness of the air, the chains ripped at his rising skin. He winced as his body vibrated against the hot electrified metal chains.

"I swear to you on my life," Peter pleaded again, "I do know Tony Stark... but that's it. I've never seen the Captain, or the black widow or- GUH!" His body clenched as the man slapped his face, the chains tearing the skin of his cheek.

_Just five minutes kid..._

"How's it feel, huh, you freak? I'm the normal one, and _I_ bring _you_ pain. How's it feel for me to dangle my strength over you? Huh? I bet that feels good for a monster like you. Monster's are born by pain, right?"

This time, Peter let the misery his body felt out by his voice. He focused on the sound. His voice was so shrill and high... and lost. His scream wasn't directed at anything or anyone in particular. He just _needed_ to echo out his pain...

Wait, he heard another noise. Several other noises. The hurt suddenly ceased as he listened. Footsteps as the man raced off. A blast that he _knew _belonged to Iron-man. He had been hearing that since he was seven years old. He could hear heartbeats. Beats that he could pick out in a crowded mall. He could hear every emotion in those heartbeats. Peter smiled inwardly as he felt two of those hearts make his way to him, the other few running off to find the distant footsteps he could only faintly hear now.

Peter was too scared to open his eyes until he could feel the _awful_ chains being taken off his body. Steve was tearing and cutting at the tight binds. Tony-_ bless his grounding hands-_ held Peter down. The genius's fingers shakingly ran through the kid's hair, ignoring the blood and sweat in each strand.

After Steve had _finally_ gotten the dreaded chains off of him, Peter could finally breath. He gasped for one, and coughed out the last bit of vomit still hanging in his mouth. He winced as he also opened his eyes, the already caked blood and mucus scraping against his eyelashes making an awful sound to his enhanced ears. He took the gracious moment to stare at Tony. And the man looked terrified. Peter had never seen someone look so dead but alive. Tony was so white, his lips a strained pink, his hair wild, his nose was leaking snot, tears openly flowing.

Peter sobbed as he glanced at Steve, who didn't look as bad. "You... you said five minutes."

Steve eyes looked like Peter had physically snacked him. "I'm... I'm so sorry Peter. He..."

Tony finished his thought, taking Peter's face into his hands and turning so the boy was staring back into his eyes. "He went off plan. But we found you. It's okay... It's okay..."

Peter allowed his vulnerable eyes to cry. He hiccuped, laughed, and sobbed uncontrollably for a few minutes. He welcomed the friendly warmth of Tony's comforting arms embrace him. The terrible pain was behind him, now only the ache of his skin and soreness of his insides that plagued him.

He shot another look towards Steve, who was now also letting tears leave his blue eyes. "Don't you _EVER_ ask me to do that again!" Peter shouted at the Captain, not caring of the bloody salvia landing on his shirt.

*******1**

Fury's team was the best he ever had acting under him. On most days no one could go toe to toe with them. But when they did take a hit, they took it hard. The harder they fall, as one would say.

And this was a bad hit. More than half the team was down. It was a long twenty minutes or so in the medbay before Fury saw any sort of stirring from the knocked out heroes. The whole team had fought against the army, even most of the reserve members. Steve, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Sam, Rhodey, some of the best fighters Nick and ever known were all down and spread on different medical beds. The other awake members had spralled about the room. Taking comfort in sitting beside the rest of the fallen team. Vision held Wanda's hand, leaning over and whispering sweet words behind her hair. T'challa sat between Steve, Natasha, and Sam. Fury had heard that group and become very close. Thor switched between each person, carefully squeezing their hands reassuringly. And finally, there was Peter Parker. He was sitting uncomfortably on the floor beside Tony's bed, face forward not peering at anything specifically. Just into empty space.

Fury had met Peter maybe three times before today, in various meetings before missions. He had known of him briefly beforehand. A quick side comment from Hill about the Spider-Man in Queens. Tony had mentioned him in passing as well. Fury didn't take much notice until a kid in spandex suddenly appeared in a pre-mission meeting. The team had answered his protests with just a dismissive hand, ensuring him that the kid was capable, and Tony insisting that he was one of them now. Peter was a surprising asset. The teen viewed the world completely differently from the rest. He saw everything in a much larger and broader scope. Peter saw the effects of everything happening, and how it would affect everyone. Almost like feeling the vibrations through a spider web, Fury had mused. Peter understood people. He knew why people did what they did, and how they would act. Natasha, himself, and Clint could do the same, as any spy could, but not in the same way Peter did. Fury wondered if Peter knew that he also had the power of empathy, or if he didn't pay any attention.

Intrigued by his own thoughts, Nick made his way over to the boy. Peter's stare into space didn't move, and Nick decided that standing in front of view would make his presence known. Peter didn't seem startled at the disruption of his view, and instead quickly smiled up at Fury before changing his stare to the floor tile.

"You fight well, kid." Nick stated, breaking the silence. Peter shrugged in response. The fight earlier had been a terrible defeat. The alien armada had more weapons, technology and better strategies than the team had been expecting. Many mistakes were made on the playing field as well. Not their best moment. They would win eventually though. His team always came through. Fury had become very interested in Peter during the fight however. It was jarring to see such strength and speed and prowess in someone so young. It was even stranger to see that several other members of the team acting very protective of the boy, but also incredibly confident in his abilities.

"Something on your mind, Parker?" Fury asked. Trying once again to start a dialogue with him.

Peter sighed, moving his eyes from the floor to the grassy hill outside. "What... what do you think it's like?"

Nick scrunched his face. "Huh?"

The teen sighed again. He moved his hands into his lap as he fidgeted with his fingers. "To be them, ya know?"

"What is it like to be an alien? Well, hate to break it to ya junior, but we are as alien to them as they are to us."

Peter smiled again. "No... no I mean alien invaders. Do you think, maybe, they don't want to do what they're doing?"

Fury narrowed his eyes slightly. He really was just a kid. "I think that's pretty hopeful thinking. And that can be dangerous." The words came out with a hiss behind them.

"You can't discredit hopeful thinking." Peter countered, shaking his head. "It's dangerous not to."

Nick crossed his arms. "So what, these otherworldly scum just don't want to invade and kill us, and we need to tell them to stop? Wish my ancestors thought of that solution."

Peter seemed unfazed by the condescending tone. Probably from spensing to much time with Tony and Clint. "No. I'm not that stupid. I just think maybe, if given the opportunity, they would choose peace. Maybe we could try to make peace with them, instead of fighting."

"I doubt they would go down that path. People rarely go down that road."

A tear quietly rolled down Peter's cheek, as he continued to grin. "I know that. Gosh, of course I know that. But why can we never show the 'bad guys' that we're at least open to the idea? Can we _never _show evidence that the Avengers are actually dedicated to peace in our time?" His chest lifted, as if containing a sob. "Can't we just hope?"

As Nick thought of a reply, the man in the bed beside them began to stir. Tony groaned as his fingers started to twitch, his eyes slowly fluttering. And then, without warning, his head and chest shot up to sit on the bed. His eyes, still not adjusted to his conscious state, scanned the room pointlessly.

"Peter?" Tony asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. Finally, his eyes fell on Fury. Tony blinked, becoming accustomed to the light. "Where's Peter?"

The mentioned teen raised his hand above the bed from the floor. His head left the focus of the window and now turned towards his mentor. "I'm right here, Mr. Stark."

Tony reached his own hand. He settled on his fingers flittering over the younger's palm before he was satisfied, taking his hand back to his side. He yawned, now being able to relax against the pillow. "Okay..." He looked back to Nick. "So what's the plan now, boss? Got any better plans cooking up in that eyepatch?"

"I hope so."

**\--**

**AN: So, I kind of made the six things more abstract than other people I've seen use the format, but hopefully it works. If you don't like it, I guess just think of it as six short one shots. Which they started at, to be fair. I also don't know how to end things. Please like and review! **


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